Strong finish for Tsunami Saipan swimmers

Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero races in the 400m freestyle event in last Saturday’s NMISF Closing Swim Meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Tsunami Saipan swimmers made the most out of last Saturday’s NMISF Closing Swim Meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Eight members of the club posted 100 percent personal best marks and one meet a qualifying standard time, giving Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura a lot of reasons to smile and be confident coming into the Guam Championships later this month.

Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero led the Tsunami Saipan swimmers who got perfect PBTs, making the feat in the boys 9 to 10’s 100m backstroke (1:30.64), 400m freestyle (5:25.16), and 50m freestyle (32.59 seconds). Nanaka Watanabe and Arman Rechucher also raced in the same age group with the latter getting PBTs in the 200m freestyle (3:24.22), 200m IM (3:43.11), and 50m freestyle (40.34 seconds). Watanabe, on the other hand, marked PBTs in the 50m breaststroke (42.87 seconds), 100m breaststroke (1:31.96), and 200m breaststroke (3:17.78) and these times were so close to CNMI age group records.

In the 11 to 12 division, Risa Sekiguchi, Sophia Gauran, and Joseph Zhang gained three PBTs each. Sekiguchi tallied PBTs in the 50m butterfly (49.19 seconds), 200m IM (3:36.43), and 50m freestyle (39.51 seconds). Gauran also had a PBT in the 50m freestyle (31.74 seconds) to go with her best marks in the 100m breaststroke (1:33.47) and 200m IM (3:24.03), while Zhang’s listed his PBTs in the 50m butterfly (56.06 seconds), 100m freestyle (1:30.85), and 50m breaststroke (58.09 seconds).

In the U8 age group, Maria Batallones’ PBTs came from 100m backstroke (1:48.49), 100m breaststroke (2:03.69), and 200m individual medley (3:57.59), while Aasish Dangol had his in the 50m freestyle (40.50 seconds), 50m butterfly (42.95 seconds), and 200m IM (3:31.15).

“Although he is only 7-years-old, Aasish has already marked AA times in two events (200m IM and 50m butterfly). He is only the third Tsunami Saipan swimmers to do these. Lukas Kang and Ryuto Yanai were the first two,” Kimura said.

“Maria got a BB time for her 200m IM and as a result she can swim maximum events (six for U8 swimmer) in the Guam Championships later this month. Maria and Aasish have strong chances of winning first place in the Guam tournament,” the Tsunami Saipan official added.

Joining Batallones and Dangol on the Guam-bound Tsunami Saipan crew is Ayumi Obligacion.

“We have a new qualifier in Ayumi after last Saturday’s meet. She just turned 11 two weeks ago and got a BB time (200m breaststroke/3:37.19). She never gave up and was betting on her last chance for a ticket to Guam,” Kimura said.

“We had a good meet last Saturday with the number of swimmers who can join the maximum events in Guam increasing. They need to enter the maximum events to get medals in the competition. There were no DQs, too and that’s great, especially for new swimmers,” the club coach ended.